The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (2009)

Reader's Annotation

Symbologist Robert Langdon must decipher the location of the legendary Masonic Pyramid to save the life of his friend.

Summary

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon has long believed the Masonic Pyramid, supposedly hidden somewhere in Washington DC, to be a myth of Freemasonry but, when a madman calling himself Mal'akh kidnaps Langdon's friend and mentor Peter Solomon, Langdon must decipher its location or Peter will die. In the end, Mal'akh is disappointed. The Lost Word of the Masonic Pyramid is not a magical symbol. The Masonic Pyramid is the Washington Monument's aluminum capstone, and the Lost Word is a common Christian Bible buried in the Monument's cornerstone.

Evaluation

I enjoyed Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and had hoped to like The Lost Symbol more. As I struggled to write a summary of this novel, I realized how poorly structured it really is. Langdon plays a very passive role in the novel, which is something that no amount of lecturing on symbology or running about Washington DC can hide. The entire subplot on Noetic Science has no relationship to the story other than perhaps a thematic one. I did enjoy the history of Freemasonry in our nation's capital and the descriptions of interesting locations there, but I'd have enjoyed them more in a nicely illustrated work of nonfiction. I think that, for someone who enjoyed The Lost Symbol, I would recommend nonfiction books on Freemasonry and our nation's capital—An Illustrated Guide to The Lost Symbol by John Weber, for example.

Genres: Thriller
Subgenres: Conspiracy